Pre-Mature C-Section Calf

[SmalltimeOkie]

Here are a few picture of the bottle calf "Peaches" that went to the vet for scours a few weeks ago. I know her momma was a longhorn cow because we had to cut the calf out of her in the pasture, but this calf looks pretty well built to be 100% longhorn. What do you think her sire was?

She seems to be growing extremely well and looks super healthy for a calf a bunch of total rookies cut out of a cow and raised on a bottle.

 

[kenny thomas]

Probably out of a Charolais bull.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Probably out of a Charolais bull.

That was my thought. She's WAY thicker than my buddy's 100% longhorn calves.

 

[alacowman1]

Cow dead or died? couldn't have it? What happened there

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Cow dead or died? couldn't have it? What happened there

She was an mean, old, sick cow who went down in a creek bed and we couldn't get her back up. Tried to get her up for about 24 hrs before we gave up. We tried to force her into labor by force dilating her cervic, but that did not work (Her cervix was completely closed and she wasn't even bagged up so I don't know why we thought it might work).

So we shot her and cut the calf out of her. Our thought process was she'd been down too long, we weren't making any progress, and she'd probably been down long enough it was endangering her calf. It was a Sunday afternoon in the middle of a storm, so the emergency vet visit would've cost us probably at least twice what I paid for the cow.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

"Mean old sick cow" and you tried to 'force dilate' her cervix? Sounds kind of cruel.

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

"Mean old sick cow" and you tried to 'force dilate' her cervix? Sounds kind of cruel.

Yes, she was a mean cow. She'd come after you in a pasture to try and hook you. I bought her for cheap at an auction house because she was supposedly 8 months bred and looked malnourished. Thought maybe getting her wormed, on some decent pasture, and in a stress-free environment would be enough to save her.

Well the intent wasn't to be cruel thus why we shot her instead of letting her lay there and die of bloat. Like I said we are noobies and have no idea what we were doing, but when I say "Force dilate" we lubed our hands/arms up and tried to manually stimulate her cervix to get it to dilate and stimulate her to contract. We were hopeful that maybe the baby had just shifted and locked her hips up so if we could get the baby out or at least get it to move maybe we could get her up and save her.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Given the circumstances, I think you did pretty darn good. The calf looks healthy

 

[MurraysMutts]

Yep. My thoughts were charolais or Limousin

Most run charolais on theirs around here

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Is the calf polled?

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Is the calf polled?

No, she has little horn nubs.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Better nip those in the bud. Especially if you plan on keeping her. I've raised lots of babies and one thing I know is that if the mama was nuts, the calf most likely will be too!

May not happen right away, but the last thing you want is for her to calve, and the switch flips...

Calf looks real nice btw!

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Hopefully it is learned behavior, and Mamma ain't going to be teaching her anything

 

[SmalltimeOkie]

Better nip those in the bud. Especially if you plan on keeping her. I've raised lots of babies and one thing I know is that if the mama was nuts, the calf most likely will be too!

May not happen right away, but the last thing you want is for her to calve, and the switch flips...

Calf looks real nice btw!

You're probably right. She's a bottle baby right now so she's sweet, but that could easily change once she gets moved out with the other cows or has a calf. I'm hopeful her mom's behavior was learned. Maybe she was a rodeo cow before then turned out to pasture and never messed with.

I've seen some older brahman mommas that were some of the meanest cows I've ever seen. They'd try and come through a steel fence to get ya, but they were pasture cows their whole lives with almost no human interaction.

I'll definitely look into debudding her. Anything special we need to do to teach her how to be a cow before she goes out with the other cows? I know she's still a few months from being ready.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I'll definitely look into debudding her. Anything special we need to do to teach her how to be a cow before she goes out with the other cows? I know she's still a few months from being ready.

Yeah. About the time she is gonna be ready for grass, the grass will be gone around here. I'd probly feed her a bit. And make sure she has good-er hay thru winter. Come the spring flush she should be ready to roll!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Sounds to me, you did a GREAT job. I would keep her separated from herd until you wean your other calves and put her with them.
And yes, DEHORN her ASAP. Much easier on YOU and HER.
Edit: She looks great!! Doing a good job and I agree probably Charolais.